is impossible;
their vices and effeminacy render them incapable of enjoying it. Men
that have neither virtue, temperance, nor valour, can never want a
master, even though Arsaces were to withdraw his conquering troops.'
'But ask again,' added he, 'something for thyself, and let the favour be
worthy me to bestow.' 'Heaven,' answered I with a smile, 'has already
given everything I can want, when it gave the earth fertility, and me
the power to labour. All, therefore, that I request, O mighty conqueror,
is, that you will please to order your men to step aside from the newly
cultivated ground, and not destroy my vegetables.' 'By heaven!' said
Arsaces, turning to his companions, 'there is something elevated in the
tranquillity and composure of this man's mind; and, was I not _Arsaces_,
I should be with pleasure _Chares_.' He then departed, but ordered me to
attend him the next day at the camp, and gave strict orders that none of
the soldiers should molest or injure my humble residence.

"'I attended the great Arsaces at the time he had appointed, and
traversed the encampment of his troop with admiration and regret. This
people was a tribe of that mighty empire which is called _Scythia_,
whose inhabitants have so often issued from their deserts for the
conquest and destruction of their neighbours.

"'This country extends to an unknown length behind the most fertile
districts of Europe and Asia. The climate is cold in winter, and the
earth for several months covered with snow; but in summer it feels the
enlivening influence of the sun, and for that reason is possessed of an
amazing degree of fertility. But as the inhabitants live remote from the
sea, and possess few navigable rivers, they are little acquainted with
agriculture, or the arts of life. Instead of trusting to the increase of
their fields for food, they raise prodigious herds of cattle and horses
in the luxuriant pastures which everywhere abound. The Scythians, like
the Arabians, wander over these immense spaces without a fixed or
permanent residence. By the side of lakes and rivers, where the verdure
is most constant, and the vegetation stronger, they generally encamp,
until the heats of the summer compel them to ascend the mountains, and
seek a cooler residence. Their houses are composed of slender poles
covered with skins, or a coarse cloth, and therefore easily erected, or
taken down and stowed in waggons, for the convenience of transporting
them in their march